Department of Pharmacy, Post-graduate Program of Pharmaceuticals Sciences, State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande, Brazil.
Curr Med Chem. 2022;29(21):3774-3789. doi: 10.2174/0929867329666220107153253.
Cucurbitacins are a wide group of natural products found in several plant families, especially in the Cucurbitaceae family. In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in studies aimed at identifying new biological activities of cucurbitacins and describing their mechanisms of action. The most researched pharmacological activities are antineoplastic and anti-inflammatory activity, the first being recently reviewed. The present review explains the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory potential of cucurbitacins, identifying the most studied compounds in this area and exploring their mechanisms of action already studied. A brief report was made about the main structural characteristics of cucurbitacins, in addition to an update on the biological activities attributed to this class in the last 5 years. Cucurbitacin B and cucurbitacin E have been identified as the most investigated when it comes to the immune response, playing roles in both innate and adaptive immunity. The most cited mechanisms were inhibition of COX-2 and NOS, reduction of oxidative stress, suppression of proinflammatory cytokines and modulation of acquired immunity proteins. It was found that cucurbitacins are promising molecules in the search for therapeutic innovation and have wide versatility in the immune response.
葫芦素是一类广泛存在于多种植物科中的天然产物，尤其在葫芦科中较为常见。在过去的十年中，人们对鉴定葫芦素的新生物活性及其作用机制的研究兴趣显著增加。研究最多的药理学活性是抗肿瘤和抗炎活性，最近对前者进行了综述。本综述解释了葫芦素的抗炎、抗氧化和免疫调节潜力，确定了该领域研究最多的化合物，并探讨了已研究过的其作用机制。简要报告了葫芦素的主要结构特征，并更新了过去 5 年中该类物质所具有的生物活性。在涉及免疫反应时，已鉴定出葫芦素 B 和葫芦素 E 是研究最多的两种物质，它们在固有免疫和适应性免疫中均发挥作用。最常被引用的机制是抑制 COX-2 和 NOS、减少氧化应激、抑制促炎细胞因子以及调节获得性免疫蛋白。研究发现，葫芦素在寻求治疗创新方面具有广阔的应用前景，并且在免疫反应中具有广泛的多功能性。
